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Here's how to evaluate the success of a contrived shortage of a product; see how much free press it generates. McDonald's provides a masterful example with its McRib sandwich, which returned to the company's menu with much fanfare in early November (even here on WalletPop) and is scheduled to depart on Dec. 5. What to do? Make your own McRib and save.

Why would the company pull such an apparently popular item off the shelf? According to the company, the sandwich is a promotional menu item, which puts it into the class of a Shamrock Shake. One might speculate, though, that if the sandwich continues to sell well, store owners across the country will clamor for it to be added to the standing menu.Before you start jonesing over the loss of your McRib, however, consider this; it's not a difficult sandwich to make at home, and given the way it is thrown together at some outlets (witness the picture above of the McRib purchased at a Columbus, Ohio, location) your version could be even better.

The key to making your own is finding boneless pork patties flavored and shaped to emulate ribs and a barbecue sauce that resembles the original. Fortunately, these aren't rare; we found the On-Cor brand boneless rib-shaped pork patties at our local grocer (also sold at Walmart) were very similar to McRibs in shape and texture.

Our recipe:

On-Cor boneless rib-shaped pork patties (six for $3.13)

Hoagie rolls (six for $2.09)

Kraft Honey Barbecue sauce ($1.36 a bottle)

Dill pickle slices

Onion slices

Cook the patties thoroughly. Scrape off the barbecue sauce that the patties come in (which is quite different from the McRib's), place one full patty plus 1/4 of a second patty (to match the size of the McRib) on a hoagie roll. Add several slices of onion, three dill pickle slices and barbecue sauce to taste. We found the Kraft sauce was a very close match to the original.